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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28830204">Rendezvous on Street Corners</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluesandpaper/pseuds/bluesandpaper'>bluesandpaper</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Red Velvet (K-pop Band)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, But like make it multiple meets, F/F, Meet-Cute, So more like Meets-Cute, Strangers</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 12:56:08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>5,258</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28830204</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluesandpaper/pseuds/bluesandpaper</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Joohyun likes routine. She doesn't like change. She comes to this street corner every day at exactly five in the morning.</p><p>But here is this random jogger suddenly stumbling into her life, breaking her routine. And she can't stop seeing her.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Bae Joohyun | Irene/Son Seungwan | Wendy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>90</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Rendezvous on Street Corners</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She was there again.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Perhaps Joohyun wouldn’t have been so surprised if it was only the second time, third, maybe even fourth.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">But then came the fifth, the sixth, and now it was the seventh time.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">And she was there again.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Joohyun remembered the first time she saw the girl. She was exactly where she was standing now, as she always was, short brown hair touched to the pole of the traffic light on the corner where Joohyun usually crossed the street to get to work. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">It was 5 AM, as it always was, streets nearly empty except for the passing cars of convenience store employees and midnight janitors coming home from their graveyard shifts, sun barely peeking out over the skyscrapers as the blinding lights of the nearby gas station started to fade. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Joohyun didn’t often see people this early in the morning. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">And the first time she saw her, here on this street corner, it was almost no different than the seventh.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The girl was short, hair tucked behind her ear, earbuds hanging loosely down her hoodie and disappearing into pockets of those jogging shorts with those neon blue stripes that Joohyun would absolutely detest on anyone else but somehow look good on this girl.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She was running over to the stoplight, the stripes of her shorts matching the electric blue shoes barreling down the pavement, both moving blurs of lightning striking with every step. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">But Joohyun was no longer looking at the steps that came like camera flashes toward her. Joohyun could only remember how there was a twig in her hair. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">It was hard to find too many trees in this city, though there were a whole line of them just two streets down. It was perhaps even harder to wind up with a fallen twig in one’s hair, the trees blocked off from pedestrians by low fences with points that ended in metal fleur-de-lys. The concrete jungle was a far cry from a wooden one, after all. It was not hard to avoid such an ordeal.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Clearly though, this jogger hadn’t. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The combination of grotesque neon attire, twig accessory, and the sudden appearance in her daily routine — which had gone so long being void of other people — left a very striking impression in Joohyun’s bleak, corporate life.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">But as much as Joohyun wanted to reach out to the girl, inform her that she ended up with a piece of wood in her hair, she could not.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The shorter had turned to spare a glance at Joohyun, eyes widening almost as if it were she who was wearing a twig for a tiara. Unidentified jogger whipped her head back around, quickly averting her eyes to the button that prompts the lights to change, pretending to be suddenly consumed by the need to rapidly press it even if Joohyun had already done that just a minute before.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The traffic light turned red, the walk signal illuminated white, and the girl jogged on.</span>
</p><hr/><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She was here again.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Oh God, why was she here again.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Just a week ago, during her daily jog, Seungwan had tripped over one of those low fences around the trees just outside her apartment complex, dove headfirst into a tree, and stumbled out of the whole ordeal only slightly concussed. </span>
</p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">She reckoned that it was only </span> <em> <span class="s2">slightly</span> </em> <span class="s1"> because her sense of balance remained intact enough to continue jogging, but still presented problems in the form of taking a right where she usually went straight and inevitably winding up on a completely different street than was her typical route.</span></p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Maybe she could’ve corrected her route, turned around once she realized it, but she didn’t. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She figured that fate must’ve caused her to fall into that glorified house planter and now this street just a few blocks down from that huge corporate building was her new, temporary jogging path for the day.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Though she was never a stickler for plans to begin with, seeing as she was very comfortable with this abrupt change in routine, she didn’t expect to develop a new one that day.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">But she did, as soon as she saw that striking figure on that street corner, white button-up tucked neatly into a pencil skirt, almost glowing as bright as the headlights coming by even if the sky was dim and the shade of the skyscrapers was almost large enough to envelop the street from end to end.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Seungwan had often seen weird-looking people around her neighborhood. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She had seen old ladies doing power walks up and down the stairs of her apartment complex in their Juicy Couture hot pink sweatsuits. She had seen young adults with mohawks and dark eyeliner trudge down the street in their hefty boots with the large spikes on the toes, wondered if their emo phase was never ending. She had seen men with large gold chains around their necks and sparkling aviator sunglasses with just as gold rims pick up calls on their bluetooth headsets, conversations about the latest stock exchange rates.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">So for someone so… regular, Seungwan shouldn’t have batted an eye.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">There was nothing odd about the woman, dressed professionally on the edges of the business district of town, long black hair tied up in a tight ponytail. Pressed and ironed white button-ups weren’t a particularly new invention, nor one that was uncommon as it was a business casual go-to. Seungwan had seen her fair share of those, more common than the trudging teens and power walking grandmas.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">But something was different about her.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Maybe it was the way she barely turned to acknowledge Seungwan barreling down the sidewalk. Maybe it was the way her eyes did a quick once-over, taking only two seconds to analyze and come to a conclusion. Maybe it was the way she didn’t even blink before returning to that silent stare across the street to the office building with that company name that slips Seungwan’s mind, eyes trained on the top of the building like aiming for a single target without further deviation.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She looked bored, if Seungwan was to be honest, like this life offered nothing interesting for her, save ambitions to climb the ranks of a workplace ladder before coming headfirst into a glass ceiling.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">But she also looked put together, calm and collected and assertive. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Seungwan could garner at least that much from how she was standing, feet planted at a perfect 180 degree angle, aligning with the same distance that extended between her two shoulders. She carried herself with an aura of authority, head held upright, back straightened.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">It was so different from Seungwan, her daily jog the only thing that was routine in her life. Even then, not quite, since she had completely botched her route that day.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">And when she turned to look at the woman then, after stopping at the corner of intersection, when she felt the cold, ambivalent stare, something clicked in her mind.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">As regular as her apparel was, her appearance was not. In fact, her beauty was quite <em>irregular</em>. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Seungwan couldn’t help but feel scrutinized under her gaze, as if she had committed some sort of felony for barging into the middle of her morning commute, so she turned around and pressed the button to cross. Maybe one too many times.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">When she jogged away, she couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like to see the woman smile.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">And so she was here again. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Oh God, she was here again.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The woman wasn't wearing a white button-up, it was blue this time, a dark blue. She had seen several colors over the course of the past week, all some pastel pink or yellow or purple, like the woman had purchased outfits for future easters that she couldn’t utilize until then. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Seungwan hadn't seen her wear a dark color until now. It looked good.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The woman was fiddling with her phone, likely answering an email from her coworker about the latest report deadline. It afforded Seungwan more time than usual to stare, observe how the employee's eyebrows furrowed in thought, lips pursed in a more mature version of a pout as she typed a reply. The woman brushed some hair out of her face, pesky strands tamed as she curled them behind her left ear.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Seungwan wondered if she was the type to have one haircut her entire life, keeping it the same length and only coming into a salon for a trim every two months. It wouldn't be bad if she did, the haircut suited her well — slick and straight and orderly and perfect.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">On the other hand, Seungwan couldn't imagine herself ever doing that. She liked the freedom she had as a freelancer, fortunate to have a steady stream of commissions and loyal base of patrons. It gave her the ability to do what she wanted, arrange her schedule as much or as little as needed (often the latter), and set the course of her day to day life as she pleased.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">That love of freedom often translated into just as much liberty with style and hair. Seungwan loved to dye her hair different colors, often vibrant ones. She had especially liked when her hair was bright red, even if it did attract many looks from the stray passerbys that happened to be awake at dawn.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">As the traffic light changed the same color as her former hairstyle, and as the woman began walking to the corporate building, Seungwan thought of dyeing her hair again, something eye-catching.</span>
</p><hr/><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">With it being the now eighth time since she had seen the jogger, Joohyun was just about ready to accept this sudden addition to her morning schedule. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">But surprises were never ending with this new girl.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">It would have been enough of a shock that she was now blonde.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">But she was also crying.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Two novel things that Joohyun had not witnessed of her.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The jogger was always bright, always listening to some sort of peppy music, likely for the purposes of exercise motivation. As to how Joohyun knew, the girl had always left her earbuds on full volume, loud enough her to hear even several feet away.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">That was one thing that wasn't different, how loud the sound was. But it wasn't the usual upbeat rhythms and funky basslines that Joohyun had gotten used to. It sounded like sentences, someone reading. The girl was listening to some sort of audio book.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Joohyun wasn’t typically one to like changes to her routine, and she particularly liked the comfort of rigid plans and predictable outcomes. If she really wanted to, she didn’t have to talk to the girl. She could just watch as her newly blonde hair caught the reflections of headlights, as her tears became glass that shattered on the sidewalk. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">There was no obligation to make any more room in her schedule for a stranger that crash landed into her morning with nothing more than streaks of neon light and a twig in her hair.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">But Joohyun was worried.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She paid attention, believe it or not, even if she had barely gotten five hours of sleep, even if she wasn’t one to drink coffee. She had to keep alert for incoming calls from clients. She had to be observant to catch the potential errors of briefs submitted by her juniors. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">So she couldn’t just ignore the twinkling eyes of the jogger, how wistful she seemed, a gray, clouded sky in contrast to the usual sunshine she was.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">And so the eighth time became different than the seventh, the fifth, the first.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">It was different, because Joohyun found herself talking to her for the first time.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Bad break up?”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The jogger sniffled, turned and lifted her head off its usual resting spot on the pole of the traffic light.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“What?” She wiped tears from her eyes, hands rubbing furiously in circles about her eyelids. “Oh, is it because I’m crying?”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Joohyun can only nod.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The stranger gives a smile despite the tears rolling down her face, as if it would assuage any of Joohyun’s concerns.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“No, no. Not a break up.” She fumbled with the string of her hoodie. “It can’t be a break up because I’m not even dating anyone because I’ve just been living alone for a while and I’m single so there’s—“ The girl stops her rambling mid sentence. “Uh, yeah. No. Not a break up.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Usually, Joohyun preferred when people answered her succinctly. When it came to asking questions of the interns about which client had just exited the building, she wanted her responses to be limited to ten words maximum.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Strangely, however, Joohyun hadn’t found the jogger’s windy tangent to be annoying. Perhaps, even, it was somewhat endearing. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">And the girl had unwittingly provided additional details that Joohyun could not have garnered from mere observation, most importantly, that she was single. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Joohyun shook her head slightly, attempting to clear her mind of an unnecessary fixation on the girl’s relationship status. There were more pressing matters.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Are you okay then?”</span>
</p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">“Oh, yeah. I’m completely fine. It’s just- It’s just this book I’m reading, no, not reading, listening to.” She dug her phone out of her pocket and flashed the screen at Joohyun, presenting the title of the audiobook: </span> <em> <span class="s2">All the Light We Cannot See</span> </em> <span class="s1">. “It’s just really sad, is all. Nothing else.”</span></p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The walking signal became an orange hand.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The jogger looked apologetic. “Oh, sorry, I didn’t mean to make us miss the light. You look like you have places to be.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She did. She never missed the signal, even if she was answering a call. Another interruption to her routine.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“It’s fine.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She could accept more change than she was used to.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“I’ll just let you get back to it then.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The girl was polite, with a sweet voice and a kind face. Even Joohyun could see that through the tears, in the way she still tried to smile at a stranger. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">How could change be wrong if it looked like her?</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">And as they spent the next few minutes in silence, this particular intersection always too slow to change the lights, Joohyun wished she had asked for the girl’s name. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Her mouth opened, the walking signal illuminated white, and the girl jogged on.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">That evening, Joohyun had another change in her schedule. She stopped by a bookstore on her way home, taking a detour that was just far enough away from her usual route to not be too unreasonable, just barely. She picked up a book she had never read, had never heard about until reading it off the jogger’s phone that morning (fiction was not a popular topic amongst her colleagues, after all), and spent the rest of the evening going into the night just to finish reading it.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">As she sat on the sofa of her apartment, curled up in a blanket at 1:00 AM, she understood why the jogger had cried that day. Joohyun felt tears escape from her own eyes. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The book was just really sad, was all. Nothing else.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The final change in her routine was that she only had three hours of sleep instead of the usual five.</span>
</p><hr/><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Seungwan didn’t understand how someone could look so beautiful and so tired at the same time.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Now she really wished that she had not listened to that audio book yesterday of all days. If she had known that it would be so gut-wrenching, she would’ve never made the decision to deviate from her usual workout playlist. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Unlike this stranger, Seungwan didn’t think that she could look as beautiful, with or without tears.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The woman was sighing today, more than usual.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She was wearing a dark mahogany button-up, once again deviating from her usual palette of pastels. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She also had a coffee in hand, an iced americano. She didn’t look to be enjoying it though, nose scrunching in disgust every time she took a sip.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Maybe she woke up on the wrong side of the bed?</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Seungwan wished she could do something to lighten the employee’s mood. All she had was her peppy exercise music, nothing else she could offer her.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Would a compliment do?</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Seungwan stopped leaning on the traffic light for a moment, turned to deliver her chosen comment.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“You, uh, I just look nice today.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The woman paused mid-sip, mouth hung ajar in surprise.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“You look nice today?”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Oh, crap. Seungwan messed up. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The tips of her ears glowed red as she wildly waved her hands in front of her face hoping that the faster she moved her hands, the more quickly the woman would understand her blunder.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“No, no! I meant to say that you look nice today!”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“I look nice today?”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">A vigorous nod of the head expressed Seungwan’s affirmation.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The woman looked a little sheepish. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“You don’t have to lie to me. I know I look tired.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Her words said one thing, a denial, but the gentle smile on her face told Seungwan that she should say more, offer further affirmation.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“No, I mean it. You look great today! In fact, you look great every day.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“You notice?”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“It’s hard not to notice someone so beautiful.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Seungwan slapped a hand over her mouth. Wow, she was just a mess today.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“And, uh, I think you look especially nice in these darker colors.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The woman smiled, and it was everything Seungwan imagined it to be and more. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“I- Well, thank you.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Seungwan didn’t think she could fall in love with someone that she’d only seen at a stoplight nine times. With all of that freedom in her schedule, one might think she would’ve had more time for a date or two now and then. But she didn’t, didn’t even know what love would be like. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">But then she saw that smile. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">And she thought that she knew.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She didn’t get that sudden rush, those sweaty palms that people talk about. It was a feeling like a whisper, and all it told her was that she wanted to see her like that every day from now on, smiling.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Seungwan grinned back, the walking signal illuminated white, but she didn’t jog on.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Instead, she paused. She watched the woman start to walk, eyes still locked on each other.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Their mouths opened in sync.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Can I get your name?”</span>
</p><hr/><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The tenth and eleventh times passed in a blur. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">They had now evolved from strangers who didn’t talk to strangers who did. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The conversations were never long, just four or five minutes of small talk as the lights took far too long to change.</span>
</p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">During their eleventh encounter, Joohyun managed to slip in how much she enjoyed </span> <em> <span class="s2">All the Light We Cannot See</span> </em> <span class="s1">, which was met with an enthusiastic reception from Seungwan.</span></p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">With each passing moment, Joohyun could find herself more interested in the girl. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She spent her free time wondering how she ended up jogging in that particular part of town, whether she had moved in recently. She thought about what Seungwan’s favorite color was, whether it was neon blue like her shorts, yellow like her hair.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She could’ve asked on the twelfth day, but she couldn’t.This time, they were not alone. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">One of the convenience store workers who usually headed home around this time had parked his car on the street that Joohyun and Seungwan usually crossed. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Joohyun recognized him from the few times she had stopped by during the morning to grab a snack on days she knew would be busy.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">His perpetual five o’clock shadow and shaggy hair were unmistakable.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">It appeared that he recognized her too, taking Seungwan’s spot by the traffic light and pressing the button to cross, turning to Joohyun with a nod in greeting.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The jogger was too easily supplanted, having to keep a few steps behind as the man quite nearly shoved her out of the way. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Joohyun turned to see what the girl was doing, simply throwing both earbuds in when she typically left one dangling.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">They shot each other a sympathetic look. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Joohyun was probably more aggravated by the lack of conversation with Seungwan than the new addition. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She could only hope that this change was temporary.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">After the longest five minutes of her life, most of which was spent scrolling through emails on her phone to avoid the frequent glances from the convenience store employee, the light changed and they walked across.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Oddly, Seungwan was not jogging away, still remaining at a leisurely pace just feet behind them.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Where are you headed so early in the morning?”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Joohyun didn’t look up from her phone as she answered.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Work.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Far from here?”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“No.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Oh, come on. I’m just trying to make small talk.” </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She could see the man give a shrug and a slick smile out of the corner of her eye.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Pardon me, sir, but I’m trying to respond to an urgent email at the moment.” </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She wasn’t, but she needed some sort of excuse to continue avoiding his eyes and that lopsided grin he was wearing.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Joohyun felt a hand meet her shoulder. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Just look at me instead of your phone. It’ll only take one second for you to hear me out.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She did look up that time, but only to direct a glare at him. He was already insufferable and it was only five in the morning.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“I just wanted to say that I see you every day as I’m driving home, and usually I won’t go out of my way for girls like you, but you really caught my eye. How about going on a date with me?” He looked so assured of himself, so confident in her reply that he continued on without even listening to Joohyun’s response. “So when do you get off from your job as a receptionist? I’ll pick you up then.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Joohyun was not a receptionist. She did not spend an eight additional years of education and study like her life depended on it to pass the Bar and be called a receptionist.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She began to move her mouth to speak and give a very stern warning to this man as a sweeter voice piped up behind them.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Sorry, but she’s with me.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The man turned around at the short jogger, eyes narrowing.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Excuse me?”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“I said she’s with me.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">He looked Seungwan up and down, lips falling into a frown.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“What do you mean? You don’t even look dressed for the same event.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“We’re not. Ever heard of style differences?” </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Seungwan’s eyebrows were knotted, arched into the most intimidating expression that Joohyun had ever seen on the girl. Easily, she wrapped an arm around Joohyun to pull her away from the stunned man’s grasp. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Either way, I don’t really owe you an explanation, but I think you’ll need one considering how stubborn you’re being right now. I promised to take her out to dinner after work, so I’ll be the one picking her up.” </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The pair continued walking down the sidewalk as the stranger stills, watching them recede. Seungwan threw a final comment behind her shoulder as they went on their way.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“And my car is a lot better than that broken down pick up you parked back there.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Joohyun heard the man huff as he trudged back to his car, grumbling all the way.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Seungwan untangled herself from Joohyun, hands trembling as her arm returned to her side.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Phew! I don’t know what I would’ve done if he stayed. I was terrified to be honest.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The jogger took a look at her offending arm for a moment, before glancing back at Joohyun, eyebrows raised. “Oh! I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to touch you without your permission… or do any of what just happened for that matter! I just kind of moved without thinking and you kind of looked uncomfortable and mad and I just knew I had to—“</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Joohyun clasped her hands around Seungwan’s, ceasing all speech coming from the jogger’s mouth.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Thank you. I don’t know what I would’ve done without you.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Probably get into a fight?”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Yes, yes. Maybe I would’ve.” Joohyun chuckled. The street corner where they stopped was long behind them now. As they approached Joohyun’s building, she couldn’t help herself from asking, “So were you serious about that dinner?”</span>
</p><hr/><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Joohyun was ready for their thirteenth encounter. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">It may have been an unlucky number, but more often than usual, these days, Joohyun believed that things could change, and that change was sometimes good.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Well, she might’ve thought that of their thirteenth encounter had there been one to begin with, but the day turned out to be just as unlucky as Joohyun could’ve anticipated.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The lawyer thought that things had been going well. They had a nice dinner last night, able to learn more about each other than they ever would’ve been able to before in those short snippets of conversation between the green, yellow, and red of the stoplights. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Joohyun learned that Seungwan was a freelancer, loved morning jogs more than anything, spontaneously changing her route every once in a while. Contrary to what Joohyun believed, Seungwan had been living in the city for a while. She just didn’t usually choose to run around the business district, but thought to venture outside her comfort zone one day because it simply felt right. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">While their conversation debunked that misconception, it only confirmed others. Seungwan was one of the sweetest people she had ever met. She didn’t hesitate to get up and foot the bill when Joohyun had taken a moment to use the restroom, even when the lawyer had offered to split it earlier. Naturally, though, Joohyun had slipped her half into Seungwan’s purse as they were parting ways. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">But as Joohyun was standing on this street corner — their street corner — she could only wonder where the jogger had disappeared to.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She was just starting to appreciate change, but the girl’s inexplicable absence gave her gnawing anxiety.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Did she scare her away last night?</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Maybe she shouldn’t have told the girl so much about herself, she wasn’t even sure if it was a first date or not. Sure, Seungwan did mention that she had a great time as she dropped Joohyun off at her apartment, but maybe she was just being nice. She seemed like the type.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Of course, Seungwan’s absence wasn’t the sole source of Joohyun’s nervousness right now.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">In the late hours of the previous night, Joohyun received an email from her superior that the client’s trial was being moved up a week. That barely left Joohyun enough time to finish arranging the arguments and organizing the evidence. She spent the whole night sorting through everything so that she could show up to work prepared to whip her team into overdrive to get everything ready before the deadline. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">This was a case she could not lose. The client was high profile and it could mean the difference between moving up from associate to partner in the firm.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">But she was exhausted from the lack of sleep lately, eyes blinking slowly at the walking signal across the street. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She thought she saw it illuminate white, took a few steps forward. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">First, there was a whirring of a car engine rushing by. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Next, there was a breeze on her face in its aftermath. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Then, there were arms wrapped tightly around her, pulling her out of the street.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“I thought you were the cautious type.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Joohyun had only heard that voice a few times in the past few days, but it was firmly implanted in her memory.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“I didn’t think you would come today.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“You almost got killed by a car and your first concern is that I’m here today?”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Joohyun could only gulp.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Seungwan shook her head, breath uneven. “I thought you thought better of me than that. Think I could just date you once then go?”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“So it was a date?”</span>
</p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">“And here I was thinking </span> <span class="s2">I </span> <span class="s1">was usually the one with scattered speech,” the jogger chuckles softly, digging her head into Joohyun’s shoulder. “You look tired today. You should take the day off, prevent any more accidents.”</span></p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Joohyun gently pushed herself away from Seungwan’s arms, part of her longing to ensconce herself in the warmth of the girl’s hoodie again.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“No. I- I can’t. Today’s important. I need to get this done.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“It shouldn’t matter more than your health, right?”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Joohyun let out a bitter laugh. “I don’t think you understand how important this case is. I mean, you don’t even really know me yet.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“I think I do, though.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Joohyun stared at the shorter in bewilderment.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Another car rushed by. The skyscrapers seemed to sway. The traffic light turned red.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The world changed. The world stood still.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The tips of Seungwan’s ears grew red. She scratched the back of her neck.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“I know it’s only been the 13th time that I’ve seen you on this street corner. But I feel like I’ve known you for a long time, weirdly enough. And even if I haven’t, there’s so much you can learn from just watching someone.” </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She paused, looking at the bright lights of the gas station across the street, collecting her thoughts.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“I know that you like to wear button-ups, especially ones in pastel colors. I know that you’ve changed recently to darker tones, ever since I told you I thought you looked nice in them. And, well, you’re very observant. You startle so easily when a car goes by because you’re always paying attention to the road, except today, I suppose. You’re hardworking, if that wasn’t evident enough by your dedication to come to work so early in the morning. You like routine and you’re very punctual, always here at five on the dot.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Seungwan made eye contact with Joohyun for her final statement.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Most importantly, you’re kind. Kind in the way most people don’t notice. You approached me that day I was crying, even though you didn’t have to, even if we’ve never talked before. And I noticed how you talked with me about that book, just the day after. You recalled so many details that you must’ve read it recently, almost as if you picked it up after talking with me that day. I wonder if you did.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Joohyun watched the traffic light turn red, the walking signal illuminate white, and she can’t walk on.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Is that enough to know someone?”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Surely you’ve learnt something about me in this time.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Seungwan was right.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Joohyun learned that the girl was freedom itself, spontaneous and reckless sometimes in all the ways that Joohyun wasn’t. She learned that she loved the color blue, whether it was neon or electric or a lighter hue. She learned that she was brave at the weirdest of times, able to step out her comfort zone to confront a man almost a foot taller than her, yet could fluster so readily if Joohyun spent one too many seconds looking at the girl. Above all, she was sensitive, empathetic. She cried while listening to a story on a street corner. She paid the bill without hesitating. She comforted Joohyun without even knowing her.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Or maybe she did. Maybe they knew each other more than Joohyun would have thought.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“I wonder if I did.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Seungwan nodded, smiling. “And to answer your question, whether that’s enough to know someone, maybe it would be, for others.” She placed a hand on Joohyun’s shoulder, warm and inviting. “But I’d like to know you even more.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">As they waited for the lights to change, Joohyun thought back on their past rendezvous on street corners.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She was glad that she was here again. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She hoped that she would stay.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hello all! I told you I'd be back, but I didn’t know it was going to be this soon, if I'm honest.</p><p>Also, this isn’t that 17k very long one shot I discussed on my other recent work! Inspiration struck me the other day and I ended up sitting down and writing it all straight. I guess it's good news then, surprise content to make up for the drought I left you in!</p><p>I basically came into writing this with one thought in my mind. How much can you learn about someone from just watching them? At first, the initial idea was that Joohyun would see Seungwan all around the city in a bunch of random places at random times, but I talked it out with my friend and it kind of sounded like a stalker scenario, so I scrapped it. Anyway, a lot of deliberation, some deviation from the initial concept, and it turned out like this! I feel like, through the course of the story, we get to learn little tidbits of the characters as much as they do themselves, gradual and important no matter how minute.</p><p>All in all, I'm such a sucker for these things, so I hope you enjoyed it!</p><p>As a final little thing, I'm finding myself stuck at a particular point in said 17k word long one shot. If anyone's interested in being a temporary coauthor/editor or something, let me know in the comments or pm me @bluesandpaper on twitter!</p><p>Pros:<br/>- You get to read this new work early.<br/>- You get to talk with me more!</p><p>Cons:<br/>- You get to read the work in an unfinished state.<br/>- You get to talk with me more...<br/>- Also I'm broke so it would be more like a for fun kind of thing than a commission or whatnot.</p><p>If not, I'll trudge through somehow! Thank you all for reading and I hope to see you again soon!!</p><p>Edit: Should I open an instagram account for bluesandpaper? I'd probably be way more active on there than twitter haha, and maybe I could interact with you all more. Just a thought!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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